Yemeni gunmen attack 2nd presidential palace
U.S. ambassador meets with acting president
CBC News
Posted: Jun 5, 2011 6:43 AM ET
Last Updated: Jun 5, 2011 6:56 AM ET
Anti-government protesters shout slogans while holding a defaced portrait of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh during a demonstration in Sanna on Saturday. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)Dozens of gunmen have attacked the presidential palace at Taiz, Yemen's second largest city, military officials and witnesses said Sunday.
One attacker and four soldiers died in the latest fighting, according to officials.
The United Nations is investigating reports that about 50 people have died in clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and security forces since last Sunday in the southern city.
The attackers who acted on Sunday belong to a group set up recently to avenge the killing of anti-regime protesters at the hands of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's security forces.
Saleh left the country overnight for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after he was wounded Friday in an attack on his compound in the capital, Sanaa, a senior Yemeni official said early Sunday.
As morning came, protesters danced and sang in the central square of the capital to celebrate Saleh's departure. However, an official with Yemen's ruling party said Saleh plans to return "within days," Reuters said.
The president was wounded by a piece of shrapnel that rested under his heart and suffered second-degree burns to his face and neck, the BBC reported, though Yemeni officials said his injuries were only minor.
At least five senior government officials were also injured in the attack, which left 11 bodyguards dead.
Al-Jazeera reported late Saturday that Yemen's vice-president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is now acting president and supreme commander of the country's armed forces.
Hadi met Sunday with U.S. Ambassador Gerald Michael Feierstein, the strongest indication yet that he is in charge.
With files from The Associated Press(source:cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/06/05/yemen.html)
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